USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 8
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CHAPTER V
A Creative Period of Ohio
Columbus Becomes the Capital of the State .- State Banks and the United States Bank .- Navigation on the Ohio and Lake Erie .- Arrival of the First Steamboat on the Ohio River .- Building of Canals and Railroads. -Beginning of Ohio's School System .- The "Border War" with Michigan .- Taxation Measures .- Ohio's First President.
7.
ITH the close of the War of 1812-1815, commercial intercourse, which had been so long interrupted, became restored and an excessive importation of foreign goods and a great influx of emigration fol- lowed. Of the latter, much passed into the new territories, and the population of Ohio greatly increased. The numerous banks which had been chartered before the war supplied an abundant circulating medium, but speculation stimulated the people to sudden desire for riches, and led to wild and extravagant excesses. In the general rush of such business, the banks became deeply involved, and, unable to keep up their coin reserve to redeem their notes, the latter conse- quently began to depreciate in value.
In 1816, Congress chartered the Bank of the United States, and the same year were established, in the principal cities of each State, branches of this bank. For Ohio, branches were opened in Cincin- nati and Chillicothe, and while receiving freely and holding in large amounts for redemption in coin and notes of banks chartered by the State, they also issued their own notes. The demand for coin made by these branches upon the State banks not being met, the notes of the latter became less and less current until those of many of them were held absolutely worthless. While yet, however, confidence in the State banks was unshaken, the Legislature of Ohio, at the session of 1815-1816, passed a law, creating several new banks in the State, and extending the char- ters of those already in existence. The object of this law was to obtain revenue from the banks, and the requirement of it that each bank place to the credit of the State one-twenty- hith of its capital stock, from which regular dividends should be paid into the State treasury, and on the expiration of the bank charter and final winding up of the bank's affairs, the State should be entitled to one-twenty-fifth of the bank property. The consideration for this stock was the charter of the bank, and the payment for it was to be provided for by the bank each year setting apart such a per centum of its profits as would by the end of the charter's period be adequate to fill all obligations to the State. All the charters were to expire in 1843, the banks were to be exempt from all State taxation, and the promise was given that until after the year 1843 no other banks would be chartered. Some of the banks accepted and others refused to comply with the terms of the act, but the whole scheme went to the wall with the general failure of the banks, several years before their charters expired, in the financial crash of 1836-1837.
In 1814, a free grant of land having been offered for the State buildings at Columbus, by the proprietors of a tract of woodland lying on the east side of the Scioto River, in Franklin County, on the agreement to permanently locate the seat of government there, the offer was accepted by the Legislature, and the erection of the necessary buildings begun. In 1816, they were ready for occupation and the Legislature assembled in the State House at Columbus for the first time. The building was a modest frame structure. In the course of that session an appropriation was made and placed at the disposal of the Governor to meet contingent expenses, and with a part of it, Governor Worthington took the responsibility to purchase books for a State Library.
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In 1810, a rather serious difficulty occurred between the United States and State authorities. The conduct of the branches of the United States bank towards the State banks greatly embittered the community. As previously mentioned, the former would col- lect a large amount of the latter's notes, and presenting them, demand their redemption in coin, or its equivalent when coin was not to be obtained. The Commercial Bank of Lake
STATE HOUSE GROUNDS, COLUMBUS, OHIO
Erie, in Cleveland, in May, 1818, refused to redeem its notes in specie because presented by a United States branch bank. In a card issued by Mr. Alfred Kelly and the directors of the institution, this action was upheld on the ground that the avowed object of the United States bank was to destroy the State banks, drain the country of specie, oppress the public, and endanger the liberties of the people. In this manner the United States bank came to be
t
LANDING AT PUT-IN-BAY, LAKE ERIE
regarded as an enemy, and in 1819 the Legislature resolved to impose a tax upon its two branches in Ohio. Much public discussion followed the announcement of this intention, and, while the right of Congress to create a bank was doubted by but few, the policy of organizing such an institution at the detriment of the State banks was denounced and the right of the
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State to tax its branches in her midst boldly asserted and almost unanimously concurred in. Thus supported, the Legislature imposed an annual tax of fifty thousand dollars on each branch of the United States bank in Ohio, and prescribed the manner in which to collect the same. Under this authority the officer directed to do so entered the branch at Chillicothe, and, in despite of the protest of its officers, levied the whole tax of one hundred thousand dol- lars upon its specie and bank notes, and deposited the same in the State Treasury at Colum- bus. Under process, issued from the United States Circuit Court of Ohio, at the suit of the bank, the State officers concerned in the operation were arrested and imprisoned ; and a bill in chan- cery filed in the same court, to obtain the restoration of the money, was followed by a writ of injunction addressed to all the defendants, restraining them from removing or making any disposition of the money or any part of it. By subsequent agreement between the counsel for the State and the bank, a decree of the United States Circuit Court was issued to restore all the money, except sufficient to support an appeal of the State to the Supreme Court of the United States. The State Treasury, having refused to comply with this decree, it was enforced by writ of sequestration, under which the Marshal of the United States Circuit Court entered the State Treasury and removed the money. The whole State was in a fer- ment ; nevertheless, great causes, like great bodies, move slowly, and it was not until the February term of 1824, of the Supreme Court, that this case was heard on appeal. Although argued for the State with great ability by a then famous Cincinnati lawyer, the decree was affirmed, and Ohio acquiesced in the decision. Human nature, however, though bowing to the decision of the highest tribunal of the United States, could not repress the desire to retaliate within constitutional limits. At the next session the Legislature passed a law to deprive the United States banks of the aid of State courts and officers in the collection of its claims, and efforts were made to deprive the United States Circuit Court for the State of
jurisdiction in the matter of such claims in Ohio; but sober second thought repealed this law.
Ohio was at this time an agri- cultural State, almost exclusively, as but few manufactures were oper- ated within her borders. Grain growing, and cattle, hog and sheep breeding was the business of the large majority of her people. The great markets for these products were in the Middle and Eastern States, and the modes of convey- ance limited. Railroads were at that time still unknown, and the few roads between the different set- tlements were in such a condition that they hardly could be used, even under the most favorable cir- PLEASURE BOAT ON THE OHIO RIVER cumstances. Therefore the early settlers had to rely almost wholly on the water ways. The early crafts used in river navigation were crude and clumsy in their construction, and would excite almost as much curiosity as the unique caravels used by Columbus on his voyage to America, when compared with the magnificent boats now
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plying on our streams and lakes. They first consisted of flat bot- tom boats, keelboats and barges. One of the early river traders was Colonel James Ferguson. In a record which has been preserved he informs us that he was trading on the Ohio River in 1790, and made several trips between Cin- cinnati and Pittsburg during that year. Produce was brought down the river from Redstone and Pittsburg in what was then called "Kentucky Boats." They were small keelboats, constructed with sharp roof covers over the princi- pal part, leaving a small section of the boat uncovered where the STEAMER BARRETT OHIO RIVER rowers plied their oars. But more generally the transportation was in flatboats. These voyages, as late as 1793, were attended with considerable danger from the Indians, who, up to that time, were hostile and lurked along the shore for the purpose of surprising white navigators. Major Swan, one of the officers at Fort Washington, who had taken a small attachment of troops from the fort to Pittsburg, wrote back: "We arrived here after a passage of only forty-four days, in which we exhausted our provisions and groceries and had to lay in fresh stock at Marietta."
Has in tow 4,000,000 fect of timber. Weight, 6,000 tons. From Missouri River points destined for Cincinnati, Ohio
Traders at old Fort Redstone, Pittsburg and Wheeling furnished boats for emigrants. They also furnished all necessary articles at a moderate price. A boat of sufficient size for an average family, say thirty to forty feet long, cost one dollar to one dollar and twenty-five cents a foot, so that an average boat. well boarded up on the sides, and roofed to six or eight fect from the bows, could be had for thirty- five dollars. This did not include the expense of mooring cable, a pump and a fire place, which cost. - perhaps ten dollars more. After these family boats had been used to descend the river, they were frequently employed for transient purposes and then broken up for their lumber. The first regular and periodical line of packets between Pittsburg and Cincinnati
TOWBOAT JOE B. WILLIAMS OHIO RIVER Has in tow sixty boats and barges of coal, containing 1,453,000 bushels of coal
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STEAMBOAT LANDING, PUT-IN-BAY LAKE ERIE
was formed on the IIth of January, 1794, by the building of four keelboats, of twenty tons each, as appears by an advertisement in the "Sentinel of the Northwest Territory," the first newspaper started in Cincinnati. The first issue of that paper appeared on the 3d of Novem- ber, 1793, under the ownership of William Maxwell. The primitive drafts referred to were used for a number of years, for the era of steam had not arrived and the flourishing business of the firm engaged in the Western river traffic was not destroyed by the river steamers until 1817, or six years after the first steam vessel passed down the Ohio. The first success- ful operation by steam on the Western waters was in 1811-1812, by the steamboat "Orleans," of about two hundred tons, built by Fulton and Livingston at Pittsburg. She descended to New Orleans, and plied between that city and Natchez until the 14th of July, 1814. The "Orleans" carried a low-pressure engine, and cost about $38,000 to build. She was finished and departed in October, 18II, reaching Cincin- nati the day before Christmas, causing infinite surprise as well as joy. The boat was wrecked DIAN while lying at the wharf at Baton Rouge over night. The Missis- sippi was falling, and the boat settled on a sharp stump, which cut a hole through her bottom. The engine was taken out and, with a new boiler, placed in another boat, called the "New SIDE WHEEL FREIGIIT AND PASSENGER STEAMER OHIO RIVER Orleans," in 1818. Steamboat building, when it was fairly
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started, in 1816, soon became an important industry, and navigation changed rapidly from the old boats to the new mode of conveyance, not only on the rivers, but also on the great lakes.
The canal system of Ohio, which also became an imp. rtant factor in the transportation business and the development of the State, was e mmenced in 1817, when the subject of a canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio River was first introduced in the Legislature by a message of the Governor of the State, including a letter on the subject from Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York. In 1819 the subject was again introduced to the notice of the Legislature, but no action was taken until the following year, when the Governor. Ethan Allen Brown, communicated all the information he had obtained. He suggested a mode of securing money to prosecute the enter- prise. At this time an act was passed to appoint three Canal Commissioners, who were authorized to employ a compe- tent engineer and assistants to STERN WHEEL. FREIGHT AND PASSENGER STEAMER OHIO RIVER survey a line for the proposed canal, their action to depend upon the acceptance by Congress of a proposition to be made by the State for donations of public lands lying in the route of the proposed canal.
The subject of common schools was brought before the Legislature about the same time by an exposure of the shameless squandering of the lands set apart for the use of schools as early as 1785, which, under cover of legislative proceedings, had been going on for seven- teen years. AAtwater, who was in the Legislature in 1821, and one of the investigators, is authority for the statement. that by legislative trickery one Senator contrived to get seven sections of the school lands diverted to himself and his family, and that the State lost, at a low estimate, one million dollars. Until this time the Assembly had treated the school ques-
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A TYPICAL SCENE ON THE OHIO RIVER
Photo by Young &' Carl, Cincinnati. O.
tion with great indifference. The only attempt the Assembly had made at a school law was an act passed in January, 1821, permit- ting the profits from the lands to be applied to the erection of school houses, but requiring tuition to be paid by the people of the district. At the session of 1821 - 1822, a combination was formed in the Assembly between the friends of canals and schools, and on the same day, the 3Ist of January, 1822, two measures were adopted. One was a resolu- tion authorizing the Governor to appoint commissioners to report a common school system for the State; the other was an act appointing commissioners to report a route for a canal to con- nect Lake Erie with the Ohio
SPRAGUE
Tow BOAT SPRAGUE OHIO RIVER
See Explanatory Notes
River. This Canal Commission, aided by engineers who had had experience in planning the New York and Erie work, were engaged three years in investigating and comparing four possible lines, namely, from Sandusky Bay to the valleys of the Sandusky and Scioto Rivers ; by way of the Maumee and the Great Miami Valleys; the third from the mouth of the Cuya- hoga or Black Rivers to the Muskingum, and the last from the mouth of Grand River by the Mahoning to the Ohio. The commissioners were required to report at the next session of the Legislature, and six thousand dollars were appropriated to defray the expenses to be incurred. At the ensuing session of the Legislature, the commis- sioners reported that the con- struction of a canal by either route, indicated at the preceding session, had been found to be practicable; and they asked for further time to enable them to ascertain the comparative advan- tages of each. Upon receiving this report the Legislature passed an act authorizing the. commissioners to make further TOWBOAT W. W. O'NEIL OHIO RIVER examinations; to apply for and receive from the proprietors of land contiguous to the canal, donations of land to be used in
Has in tow thirty-eight boats and barges of coal, containing 708,294 bushels of coal
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its construction : to appoint two of their number acting commissioners with a fixed compen- sation, and to ascertain where the loans could be obtained in behalf of the State, for the construction of the canal. The unhealthfulness of the season which followed and the impos- sibility of obtaining the services of a principle engineer, threw much difficulty in the way of the commissioners. They proceeded, however, so far in the examination of the country, that at the next session (1823-1824) they recommended the canal to pass from the lake through the upper part of the Muskingum, the Licking and the lower part of the Scioto Valleys. It was the original wish of the board to continue this line over from the Scioto to the Miami Valley
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and to terminate it at Cincinnati; but it was impossible to cross the intervening ridge with a sufficient supply of water. It was a part of this plan to connect the main line of the canal with the Scioto at Columbus, by means of a navigable feeder. The commissioners also stated that a canal could be easily constructed from the Ohio to the lake through the Miami Valley, and particularly noticed with what ease and advantage the portion between Cincinnati and Dayton could be made. In addition to these statements, letters from various individuals, intimately acquainted with financial affairs, were laid before the Legislature. all agreeing in
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BY JOHN KILBOURN.
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NATURAL BRIDGE IN SPRING GROVE CEMETERY CINCINNATI, OHIO
the practicability of obtaining by loan the funds needed to carry on the work. The Legisla- ture resolved to proceed, and an act was passed in February, 1824, directing the commission- ers to continue their labors and to employ an able engineer and assistants. In the course of the following summer two lines of canal were located; one extending from the mouth of the Scioto to Coshocton, and then by one of three different routes to the lake, and another from Cincinnati to the foot of the rapids of the Maumee. The expense of the Miami line from Cincinnati was estimated at $2.502,494; the estimated expense of the Muskingum and Scioto line varied, according to the route selected between Coshocton and the lake, from $2.626.571 to $2.934,024. The ground was now clear for the intelligent and definite action of the Legislature upon this great subject ; and in February, 1825, an act was passed "To provide for the internal improvements of the State of Ohio by navigable canals." This act provided that the Board of Canal Commissioners should consist of seven members, and the
STEAMBOAT WAYS, CINCINNATI
Photo by Young & Carl, Cincinnati, O.
board was authorized to commence the construction of canals from the mouth of the Scioto River to the lake, and so much of the Miami and Maumee line as laid between Cincinnati and Dayton. A fund was also created, denominated "The Canal Fund," to consist of all lands, property and moneys devoted to the object of the act. To manage this fund, a "Board of Commissioners of the Canal Fund" was established, consisting of three members, with authority to borrow money and superintend the application. Under this act money was
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borrowed and the work was commenced and prosecuted with energy. The canal, from the Ohio to the lake, received the name of the "Ohio Canal;" that from Cincinnati to Dayton, became known by the appellation of the Miami Canal. The line of the former work, from Coshocton to the mouth of the Cuyahoga was fixed. In the course of the year, 1825, consid- erable portions of both canals were put under contract, and from that time on the great work of internal improvements continued successfully and steadily. Congress, also, liberally aided the State in her great enterprise by the grant of 840,000 acres of the public lands. As an indication of the character and credit which the State by this energetic policy had acquired,
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LAKE VIEW PARK AND HARBOR CLEVELAND, OHIO
the first sale of Ohio bonds, in 1825, was $400,000 at the rate of 9712 per cent, but all subse- quent sales were at a premium.
The chant of joy and the blaze of illumination which went up from the hills and valleys of Ohio, as the news of this prompt action of the Assembly traversed the State, was a jubila- tion, such as never before had happened northwest of the "Beautiful River." The 4th of July was selected as the day for the commencement of the work on the Ohio Canal, and De Witt Clinton, of New York, was invited to break the ground for this work. The Licking Summit, near Newark, was the place selected for the ceremony. Governor Clinton was greeted by Governor Morrow with a most happy allusion to his former exertions for the admission of Ohio into the Union "in no small degree owing to his espousal of her cause," when a Senator in Congress. Thomas Ewing, then growing to the prime of his strong intel- lect and fame, was the orator of the day. After this gala day, Governor Clinton made a
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tour through Southern Ohio, encouraging and confirming the spirit of the people in the great work they had begun and adding immensely to the success with which it was prosecuted. The Miami Canal to Dayton was commenced in 1826. This and the Ohio Canal were com- pleted in 1833, and the entire system finished in 1842, at a total cost of $14,688,666.97. This comprehended 658 miles of canals proper, or 796 miles, if navigable slack waters, feeders, side cuts and reserv irs be reckoned. The effect of these improvements upon the growth and prosperity of the State can hardly be exaggerated. They lifted Ohio into a new sphere, they opened to her farmers and merchants the markets of the Ohio, the lakes and New York. They enhanced the value of the lands as well as of the products. They opened intercourse with the northern and northwestern parts of the State, built up Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Hamilton, Massillon and many other cities, and thus tended to unite a long segre- gated people, as well as to make them prosperous. They brought a large accession of popu-
SCENE ON THE UNIVERSITY GROUNDS, COLUMBUS, OHIO
lation and capital and gave the State a name and character throughout the country of which her sons justly were proud.
The advocates of common schools in the meantime had not been so successful, and per- haps not so wise. The commissioners appointed in 1822 made a report and published it broadcast through the State. It met with no favor in the next Assembly, however. Many influential men opposed it, one objection being that the supposed school tax was not authorized by the constitution. This was met and overthrown by the clause transmitted from the ordinance of 1787, declaring that as religion, morality and knowledge were essential to the Government, "schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision," and upon this single warrant the Legislature, on the 5th of February, 1825. passed the first act establishing free schools in Ohio, and imposed a general tax upon property of half a mill upon the dollar, for the support of schools, and provided for their establishment in every township. This bill afterwards underwent several alterations, and, in 1829, was superseded by another and better law upon the same subject. The schools were free to all white children, negroes and mulattoes were excluded, and the property of such persons was exempted from the tax. The school fund was derived in part from the school lands, in part from fines and forfeitures for offenses, and in part from the tax already men-
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CONCRETE CULVERT UNDER THE MIAMI CANAL HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
tioned. The whole quantity of land, which, under the ordinance Congress was bound to grant for the use of schools in Ohio, exceeded seven hundred thousand acres. The quantity actually set apart was ascertained in 1825, to be rather more than half a million acres, and was appraised at something less than a million dollars. Besides the provision thus made by the National and State governments for common instruction, lands have been granted for the endowment of higher schools of learning. In the Ohio Company's purchase, two entire townships were granted for a college. On these lands the Territorial Legislature estab- lished an institution with the pompous title of "The American Western University." In Symmes' purchase, a township was granted for an academy, but was never located by the
SCENE IN LAKE PARK, MANSFIELD, OHIO
patentee. After the admission of Ohio into the Union, Congress gave another township in lieu of it, which was located on the Great Miami, about forty miles from Cincinnati. There the "Miami University" was established.
The session of the Legislature which gave an impulse to the canals and schools seems to have been possessed of a militant spirit. Retaliatory measures were adopted against New York for enforcing on Lake Erie the law of 1808, by which the exclusive navigation of the waters by steam had been granted to Livingston and Fulton. But this monopoly was soon afterwards defeated by a judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States. Another conflict in which Ohio became involved in 1835, with the high powers of Michigan Terri- tory, was near being tragical. An important portion of the State was involved. In the
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